


Christmas Blues

by RealOrNotInspire



Series: Christmas One Shots [4]
Category: Chicago Fire
Genre: Christmas, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:35:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21773068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RealOrNotInspire/pseuds/RealOrNotInspire
Summary: Matt's got the winter blues and Kelly wants to cheer him up.
Relationships: Matthew Casey/Kelly Severide
Series: Christmas One Shots [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1562035
Comments: 6
Kudos: 51





	Christmas Blues

**Author's Note:**

> A little angst with a fluffy ending.

Christmas is such a magical time in Chicago, the whole city is lit up, well, even more than it usually is and it just has this warm feeling. That warm feeling is purely festive though because the actual temperature is in minus numbers but if you can’t stand the cold, the falling snow is beautiful to watch from a window, preferably while snuggled up with someone you love and a hot drink.

It’s mid-December and Kelly can’t wait to put the decorations up with Matt, this is their first Christmas living together. Maybe Kelly didn’t have the smoothest childhood with Benny bailing and all but his mom worked hard to make sure they had really happy holidays and he has so many memories of all their traditions big and small.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Whistling Kelly unlocks the apartment door and is surprised to see that all the lights are off, huh, Casey must still be at his construction job. Still whistling, Kelly makes his way to the fridge, grabs himself a beer and heads for the couch, he’s about to sit down when he hears a quiet voice.

“Hi.” Kelly jumps about a foot in the air and lets out a very manly shout, which he would argue was not a squeal until the day he died.

“Holy shit! Matt, you scared the hell out of me. I thought you were still at work.”

“I called in sick.” Matt slurs, reaching for his tumbler of whiskey.

“Are you drunk?” Kelly’s question feeling a little redundant as the glass slips from Matt’s fingers and he has to catch it.

“Yep.” Matt answers, popping the ‘p’.

Kneeling down Kelly cups Matt’s cheek, kissing him on the forehead he asks. “What’s going on, baby? You haven’t been drinking all day have you?”

“Don’t worry, I paced myself.” Matt shrugs and Kelly’s worried, this isn’t like him at all, blowing off work and drinking alone in the dark.

“Come on, baby. Let’s get you to bed.” Kelly pulls him to stand up and Matt sways so much he falls into Kelly’s chest. Looking down at him Kelly asks. “Do I have to carry you?”

Looking back up at him with a drunken smile Matt says. “I mean, I wouldn’t hate it.”

Picking him up bridal style Kelly carries Matt to their bedroom and tucks him in, they were definitely gonna talk about this in the morning but Matt’s already passed out and snoring away.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matt wakes up to a kiss on the cheek and the smell of coffee, urgh his mouth felt like carpet and his head is pounding, he drank way more than he meant to yesterday.

“How you feeling this morning?” Kelly asks softly, knowing Matt must be hurting and he climbs back into bed to sit up with his own cup of coffee.

“Urgh, stop yelling at me.” Matt groans, rolling over and curling into Kelly’s side.

“That good, huh?” Kelly runs his fingers through Matt’s hair and asks. “What’s going on, baby? Skipping work and drinking in the dark sounds more like me than you.”

“It’s nothing. Just a bad day.” Matt mumbles.

“Hey, I know you better than that. Talk to me.”

Tucking himself closer into Kelly’s side Matt begins to explain. “It’s the holidays, they just really suck sometimes. Everything’s holiday cheer, red and green and it just makes me feel – blue.”

Kelly doesn’t push giving Matt a minute to continue, knowing it’s not easy for him to open up. “My parents died a week before Christmas, after that holidays just kind of lost their magic. My aunt tried but - it just wasn’t the same.”

“I’m sorry, baby.” Kelly knew about Matt’s parents, they died in a car accident on an icy road when Matt was seven. “You know, it’s okay if you’re not feeling the Christmas spirit and you can talk to me before drinking yourself into a blackout.”

“I didn’t blackout.” Matt protests.

“I know you paced yourself, you told me.” Matt chuckles until he feels his head pounding again.

“I did and I know I can talk to you. I guess I’m still not used to having someone to listen.”

“Well, I’m here now and I’m not going anywhere.”

Kelly hears some muffled sniffles and feels a growing wet spot on his t-shirt.

“Hey, hey, hey, it’s okay.” Kelly says, putting his coffee down and moving to lay down next to Matt, pulling him close and holding him tight. “I got you.”

“I hate crying.” Matt chokes out.

“I know, baby.” Kelly holds Matt as he cries, rubbing his back until he settles down and Matt says.

“I’m sorry, I don’t want to ruin Christmas for you.”

“You’re not ruining anything. Come on, tell me about Christmas with your parents.”

“I don’t remember much.”

“What do you remember?” Kelly pushes as Matt tries to deflect.

“Only thing I really remember is…” Matt gets this childlike smile on his face that Kelly’s never seen before. “…beer and cigars.”

“What?” Kelly laughs, completely confused.

“Instead of milk and cookies for Santa, we used to leave out a beer and a cigar. In the morning there’d be an empty glass and a cigar butt. Thinking about it now, I’m pretty sure it was just my dad’s Christmas tradition for himself.”

“Maybe we could start our own tradition this year.” Kelly suggests.

“Hmm, maybe.” Matt shrugs, non-comital as he gets out of bed. “I need to brush my teeth, twice.” He adds leaving the room.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kelly didn’t like this, seeing Matt sad and trying to avoid the holidays. Christmas was so special to him but to the man he loved it was just a dark and depressing reminder of losing both parents in one night. His mind starts spinning with different ideas of how to fix this, he wants to fix this and he wants so bad to ignore the voice in the back of his head telling him that this situation doesn’t have a quick fix.

Matt feels like the worst boyfriend ever, ruining their first Christmas living together, when they’d lived apart it was easier for him to hide how much the holidays upset him and easier to fake it when they were together. So he does what he always does in a crisis, calls Shay. They meet up for coffee, Matt’s liver needing a day off and he picks her brains. Shay suggests a kind of compromise, Matt tries to let a little Christmas spirit in and Kelly tries not to smother him in it. Find a tradition that works for both of them.

Matt thinks things over for a week, Kelly still hadn’t put a single decoration up and he hadn’t mentioned celebrating once. Shay was right, it was time for him to let in just a little Christmas spirit. Thinking about his dad’s tradition of beer and cigars he tries to remember the stories Kelly told him about his Christmases and it’s like a cartoon, the light bulb comes on over his head and he knows exactly what he has to do.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kelly’s sitting at the bar in Molly’s when he gets a text from Matt.

‘Meet me at the Millennium Park ice rink. 30 minutes. No questions.’

Kelly gets to the ice rink and finds Matt, pulling him into a hug, he says.

“What the hell are we doing here? It’s too damn cold for this.”

“It’s my surprise for you.”

“Wait, you’re not gonna propose are you?” Kelly jokes, knowing they weren’t quite there yet. 

“You really think I’d do that in public?” Matt jokes right back. “No, I talked to Shay and she convinced me to let in a little holiday spirit. Then I thought about beer and cigars being my tradition and I remember you saying that ice skating was your favourite Christmas tradition. So here we are.”

“You’d do that for me?” Kelly asks in awe of the man he loved.

“I’m doing it for us.” Matt corrects, pulling him in for a kiss.

Getting on the ice Matt needs a little extra support, it’s been a long time since he went skating. Not that Kelly minds, it means he gets to keep Matt close and his hands on him the entire time. The plan’s a success and for the first time since he was a kid Matt feels just a little of that Christmas spirit people talk about.

Seeing Matt happy, smiling and laughing, it’s the best present Kelly could have asked for. Kelly pulls Matt close, wrapping his arms tight around his waist.

“I’m freezing, how about we go home and I’m sure we can find a way to warm up.”

“I thought you’d never ask.” Matt shivers.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Getting home Kelly covers Matt’s eyes and guides him into the living room to unveil his own surprise. Stopping in the middle of the room, Kelly tells Matt to keep his eyes closed before Matt feels him move away. He hears a faint click and feels Kelly’s warm body against his back again, arms wrapping around his waist and with a quick kiss on his neck, Kelly finally says. “Open your eyes.”

In the corner of the room there sits a simply decorated Christmas tree, not too big or overwhelming and on a small table beside it sits two beer glasses and two cigars.

Whispering in his ear Kelly says. “I talked to Shay too.”

Turning to face him, Matt has tears welling in his eyes and Kelly panics. “Oh no, it’s too much. Isn’t it?”

“No, no. It’s perfect.” Matt reassures him. “I love you so much, Kelly.”

“I love you too, Matty.” The two men share a kiss in the light of the Christmas tree, this would be one of the most important moments of their relationship and a memory they’d never forget.


End file.
